Lockdown delay could hurt Dorchester's independent shops

It's not just nightclubs and events organisers worrying about the restrictions

Author: George SharpePublished 16th Jun 2021

Dorchester's independent shops say they could be hit in the pocket by delaying changes to coronavirus restrictions.

Shops are waiting another four weeks before they can remove caps on customer numbers in the store.

Many have a capacity of seven or eight customers due to smaller square footage.

Layla Gregory is the owner of Belle Modelle in Dorchester. She told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:

"We've still got to make sure we have everything in place for hygiene. So that's going to carry on for another four weeks, so we can't actually have a packed store again. Not just yet anyway.

"The restrictions have just made shopping a completely different experience. You can't totally relax, you can't always understand what people are saying because the masks are on and with screens up the communication has got a little more difficult in store.

"Okay, it's four weeks, it's not a long time, but everyone was getting excited to get back shopping again in a normal environment, which we're going to have to wait for."

Others still say four weeks is a short time to wait to July 19th when they can finally pull down their screens and take off their masks.

Louise Fletcher is the owner of Loco Loves Boutique in Dorchester. She told Greatest Hits Radio Dorset:

"Having to just postpone it, yes it is disappointing, there's a few changes we could have made. We also have a café in our boutique so we could have allowed more people to sit inside.

"On the other hand we've adapted really well and we are able to still continue as we have been until it changes.

"There's always going to be some impact from any restrictions. We allow for about 8 people comfortably looking around, and that's usually okay but when we do have busy times we might just have to mention to people they just have to wait outside for a bit."

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